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Friday, 28 November 2014

We're so nearly in December everyone! In the meantime November hangs in there by the skin of its teeth as we celebrate the Small Things. Hope everyone is well and welcome to the weekly celebrations where we celebrate everything, no matter how small.I hope my American friends have had a good Thanksgiving.

Wednesday, 12 November 2014

Today I am joining in the Catch Me When I Fall blog hop! I have an excerpt from this excellent book, but firstly, what is it all about?

Recruited at his death to be a Protector of
the Night, seventeen-year-old Daniel Graham has spent two-hundred years
fighting Nightmares and guarding humans from the clawed, red-eyed creatures
that feed off people’s fears. Each night, he risks his eternal life, having
given up his chance at an afterlife when he chose to become a Protector. That
doesn’t stop a burnt-out Daniel from risking daring maneuvers during each
battle. He’s become one of the best, but he wants nothing more than to stop.

Then he’s given an assignment to watch over
sixteen-year-old Kayla Bartlett, a clinically depressed patient in a
psychiatric ward. Nightmares love a human with a tortured past. Yet, when they
take a deep interest in her, appearing in unprecedented numbers, the job
becomes more dangerous than any Daniel’s ever experienced. He fights ruthlessly
to keep the Nightmares from overwhelming his team and Kayla. Soon, Daniel finds
himself watching over Kayla during the day, drawn to why she’s different, and
what it is about her that attracts the Nightmares. And him.

A vicious attack on Kayla forces Daniel to
break the first Law and reveal his identity. Driven by his growing feelings for
her, he whisks her away to Rome where others like him can keep her safe. Under
their roof, the Protectors discover what Kayla is and why someone who can
manipulate Nightmares has her in his sights. But before they can make a move,
the Protectors are betrayed and Kayla is kidnapped. Daniel will stop at nothing
to save her. Even if it means giving up his immortality.

Doesn't it sound awesome? I am sure you want to hear some of it so here's an excerpt:

The first Nightmare dropped
into Kayla’s room from the ceiling like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible. Its surprise attack caught me off guard for a
moment, but I jumped into action and grabbed its foot, pulling the monster as
far from the bed as possible. The Nightmare flipped around to attack me, and I
dug my blade under its jaw. The beast screeched in pain before collapsing to
the floor, its hands grasped around its neck as black blood sprayed from the
creature’s throat. I wiped my hand and my blade on my handkerchief and kicked
the bastard to the corner of the room for later disposal.

Samantha watched my every
move. I was about to tell her to mind her own business when a Nightmare crawled
through the wall behind Seth.

“Seth, drop!” I yelled.

He fell to the ground without
hesitation, and I threw my dagger between the Nightmare’s eyes.

Samantha and Seth obeyed my
instructions. I stood at the foot of the bed with Samantha on my left and Seth
on my right. Hendrik was already facing the headboard, so he’d shout if any
tried to get in that way.

Two more Nightmares came in a
similar fashion as the first, then three more entered through the walls. I
grabbed one from the ceiling and threw it into the Nightmare on the far side of
the room. Then I grabbed the other beast and threw it into the one directly
across from Samantha. They crashed into each other like a bowling ball into a
pin.

Knowing Samantha could handle
those two and Seth would quickly dispose of his Nightmare, I ran at the two on
the far side of the room. I threw my remaining dagger into the back of one of
the Nightmare’s heads as it stood. The beast flopped to the ground, and the
other—who was missing an ear—hissed a warning at me. But I didn’t back down.

I ducked when the Nightmare
swiped at my face with clawed hands, and I jabbed the monster in the stomach.
The butt of my hand punched the creature in the nose when it bent over with a
groan. The Nightmare’s head tipped backward, and I used that moment to kick its
legs out from under it. The beast fell to the floor with a yelp of surprise.

I tore my dagger out of the
dead Nightmare’s head while the one-eared guy scrambled to its feet. Black
blood oozed from the creature’s nose. It screeched at me like an angry hawk
that couldn’t catch its prey, and I waited for the Nightmare to strike.

“Come on, bitch. Hit me.”

Instead of swiping at me
again like I expected, the monster tried to tackle me. But I recovered quickly,
using the Nightmare’s momentum to toss it over my shoulder. The beast fell to
the ground behind me. I turned around and straddled its back, kneeling on the
creature’s arms to keep it from getting up. From beneath me, the Nightmare
squirmed and squealed, and in one quick movement, I wrapped my arms around its
head and twisted, snapping the monster’s neck.

“God, Daniel. A dagger
would’ve done the trick,” Samantha said. She and Seth dragged the other dead
Nightmares to where mine laid on the floor. I helped them pile the heavy bodies,
then Seth took a lighter out of his pocket and lit the corpses on fire. Their
demonic blood burned hot and fast. We stepped back to avoid any accidental
burns.

“Daniel has a natural flare
for the barbaric,” Seth said.

“I do not.”

“Then do you want to tell me
what that was?” Samantha asked.

I didn’t reply. I’d taken out
my irritation on the Nightmares, transferring the anger mounting for myself
toward them. Kayla had become an itch I couldn’t scratch. Tomorrow I would tell
Giovanni to take me off her protection. As much as I hated to admit, I was
emotionally compromised.

What are you waiting for? GO GET IT!

--

About The Author:

Adopted at three-days-old by a construction
worker and a stay-at-home mom, Vicki Leigh grew up in a small suburb of Akron,
Ohio where she learned to read by the age of four and considered being sent to
her room for punishment as an opportunity to dive into another book. By the
sixth grade, Vicki penned her first, full-length screenplay. If she couldn’t be
a writer, Vicki would be a Hunter (think Dean and Sam Winchester) or a Jedi.
Her favorite place on earth is Hogwarts (she refuses to believe it doesn’t
exist), and her favorite dreams include solving cases alongside Sherlock
Holmes.

Vicki is an editor for Curiosity
Quills Press and is represented by Sarah Negovetich of Corvisiero Literary
Agency.

Monday, 3 November 2014

Today, I’m taking part in Vicki Leigh’s “My Worst Nightmare” blog
hop, to celebrate the recent release of her young-adult, paranormal-romance/
urban-fantasy, CATCH
ME WHEN I FALL, which centres around seventeen-year-old Daniel Graham, a Protector
of the Night, who has spent two-hundred years fighting Nightmares and guarding
humans from the clawed, red-eyed creatures that feed off people’s fears.

The rules are to post about my worst nightmare today, and what form the clawed, red-eyed creatures would take if they fed off your fears!

Prize is a Swag pack containing a dreamcatcher made by Vicki

This is all in aid on Vicki Leigh's excellent book - details of which are below the blog hop participants!

MY WORST NIGHTMARE:

This is really hard as it continually changes. My worst nightmare is of course the loss and suffering of my loved ones, and for something terrible to happen to them. However, for the purposes of the hop I will talk about one of the more light-hearted worst nightmares I have and that is to be forced to run CROSS COUNTRY. I have nightmares about never-ending runs up steep hills on freezing cold mornings! A never ending run with an army major barking at me. This would definitely be one of my personal hells.

I think the clawed creatures would look like one of the creatures out of Supernatural, come to get me!

Recruited at his death to be a Protector of the Night,
seventeen-year-old Daniel Graham has spent two-hundred years fighting
Nightmares and guarding humans from the clawed, red-eyed creatures that feed
off people’s fears. Each night, he risks his eternal life, having given up his
chance at an afterlife when he chose to become a Protector. That doesn’t stop a
burnt-out Daniel from risking daring maneuvers during each battle. He’s become
one of the best, but he wants nothing more than to stop.

Then he’s given an assignment to watch over sixteen-year-old
Kayla Bartlett, a clinically depressed patient in a psychiatric ward.
Nightmares love a human with a tortured past. Yet, when they take a deep
interest in her, appearing in unprecedented numbers, the job becomes more
dangerous than any Daniel’s ever experienced. He fights ruthlessly to keep the
Nightmares from overwhelming his team and Kayla. Soon, Daniel finds himself
watching over Kayla during the day, drawn to why she’s different, and what it
is about her that attracts the Nightmares. And him.

A vicious attack on Kayla forces Daniel to break the first
Law and reveal his identity. Driven by his growing feelings for her, he whisks
her away to Rome where others like him can keep her safe. Under their roof, the
Protectors discover what Kayla is and why someone who can manipulate Nightmares
has her in his sights. But before they can make a move, the Protectors are
betrayed and Kayla is kidnapped. Daniel will stop at nothing to save her. Even
if it means giving up his immortality.

Adopted at three-days-old by a construction worker and a
stay-at-home mom, Vicki Leigh grew up in a small suburb of Akron, Ohio where
she learned to read by the age of four and considered being sent to her room
for punishment as an opportunity to dive into another book. By the sixth grade,
Vicki penned her first, full-length screenplay. If she couldn’t be a writer,
Vicki would be a Hunter (think Dean and Sam Winchester) or a Jedi. Her favorite
place on earth is Hogwarts (she refuses to believe it doesn’t exist), and her
favorite dreams include solving cases alongside Sherlock Holmes.

Vicki is an editor for Month9Books and Curiosity Quills
Press, an intern at TriadaUS Literary agency, and is represented by Sarah
Negovetich of Corvisiero Literary Agency.